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Suffolk Law School is committed to providing a diverse
student body with the opportunity to study law. That commitment has yielded some
of the nation’s most distinguished legal professionals. Learn how a stranger’s
favor more than 100 years ago planted the seed that became one of the largest
law schools in the country.
Overview

Learn more about the Suffolk Law application process. Still
on the fence? Come take a tour. We’ve also got answers to all of your financial
aid questions—there are many resources available to help offset the cost of law
school.
Overview

With three degree programs, several joint degree options, 18
areas of focus, and six concentrations, you can find the course of study meant
for you. Complement your courses by working in one of our dozen clinics,
joining a moot court or mock trial team, or studying abroad.
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Our students make Sargent Hall hum with activity from
morning ‘til midnight. With more than four dozen students groups representing a
wide range of cultures, legal areas, sports, religions, and other interests,
there’s a group for you at Suffolk Law.
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Suffolk Law is committed to creating practice-ready lawyers,
equipped with the skills and competencies to succeed in a shifting cultural and
technological landscape. Our Office of Professional and Career Development is a
resource for students, alumni, and employers alike.
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Within Suffolk Law, there are bodies of expertise and
experience that reflect our institutional strengths. Learn more about the
concentrations, organizations, clinics, and programs that comprise what we call
our knowledge centers.
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Our faculty include top scholars in the field, practitioners-in-residence,
and current and former litigators and judicial officers. We also regularly host
distinguished visiting faculty from notable institutions across the country.
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The John Joseph Moakley Law Library boasts more than 350,000
volumes, dozens of computer stations and group study rooms, access to dozens of
online research databases, and other resources to help you succeed in the
classroom.
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From mentoring students to offering financial support, from
our online community to our alumni magazine, there are several ways for Suffolk
Law’s more than 23,000 alumni to stay connected to each other and to the
University.
Overview

Required Courses

Civil Procedure

Litigation of the modern unitary civil action. Jurisdiction of state and federal courts; law applied in federal courts; pleading, pretrial motions, and discovery; trial by jury and evidentiary law; the binding effects of adjudications.

Constitutional Law

Survey of the history and development of constitutional law in the United States, including the federal system, the commerce clause, intergovernmental relations, due process, equal protection, police power, taxation. Analysis of selected decisions of the United States Supreme Court.

Contracts

Contracts defined and classified; capacity of parties; nature and legal effect of offer and acceptance; consideration; fraud, mistake and undue influence; statute of frauds; types of illegality; interpretation of language; operation of law; effect of express and implied conditions; performance of conditions; waiver of conditions; rescission of contracts; performance; excuses for nonperformance, including novation, alteration and impossibility of performance, breach of contract and remedies; damages, nominal and compensatory; quasicontracts, introduction to the Uniform Commercial Code; professional responsibility of the lawyer in contract law.

Criminal Law

The course emphasizes the general principles, sources, and purposes of the criminal law, including the following doctrinal issues which apply to crimes in general: the act requirement, the mens rea requirement, causation, liability for attempted crimes, accomplice liability, defenses, and criminal code interpretation. Additionally, the course studies one or more specific crimes in-depth, including homicide, and repeatedly raises the question: how well does American criminal law fulfill its goals?

Legal Practice Skills

The Legal Practice Skills Program is a two-semester, three-credit program for first year students including (a) an orientation to law school, the sources of law, and the study of law; (b) instruction in the use of the law library and legal research tools; (c) practice in issue analysis and the writing of legal memoranda; (d) preparation of trial briefs and oral arguments; and (e) an introduction to computerized legal research systems. The program is designed to prepare the student for the writing and research work expected of the modern practitioner.

Property

A study of the acquisition, ownership, and transfer of property both personal and real, including an analysis of ownership concepts, rights of possession, donative transactions, future interests, concurrent interests, landlord and tenant issues, the conveyancing system and governmental regulations.

Torts

General principles, sources and policies of modern tort law, including intentional torts (such as assault, battery and false imprisonment), negligence, strict liability, and products liability. Special attention is paid to the elements of recovery in negligence, including the standard of care, duty problems, and causation, to defenses, including comparative negligence and assumption of risk, and to principles of joint liability, contribution, and imputed liability. Recent statutory changes in these tort principles are also addressed.